In A Green Dress
by SinsofMidnight
Summary: Art student Axel Sinclair is desperate enough to take any job. His brother Reno talks him into cross-dressing to take the job of a lounge singer. Hilarity ensues when they are caught by one of the wait-staff and Axel must do whatever it takes to keep his secret. Roxas/Axel, but various minor pairings ensue...
1. Chapter 1

_Although this is technically a cross-over, it's the minor characters/pairings, so I prefer to throw this one in under Kingdom Hearts, since my main pairing is from there..._**  
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* * *

**In A Green Dress**

**_Fandom:_**_ Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy VIII  
_

**_Teaser:_**_ " 'Dude, can you _get_ any more gay than belting out show-tunes on stage on a nightly basis?' Roxas asked mockingly.  
I took a moment to look down at what I was currently wearing. 'Well, there's also the corsets, the heels, the stockings, the garter-belt... Oh, and the fact _I like cock,_' I countered sweetly in Lola's honey-drenched voice."_

**_Inspiration:_**_ I am totally blaming a fan-fiction entitled "Everything Nice" by Dualism.  
Hon, if you're reading this, just know that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and I mean no harm with this story ^.^_

**_Rating: _**_Oh! So very M!_

**_Warnings:  
_**_-Cross Dressing Boy  
-Lies/Deception  
-Dominant! Roxas  
-Scheming redheads  
-Man-sex (and I don't just mean Xemnes :P )  
-SHOWTUNES 3_

**_Main Pairing: _**_Roxas/Axel (Lola)_

**_Minor Pairings:_**_  
-Cloud/Zack  
-Reno/Tseng  
-Squall/Seifer  
-Tifa/Rude  
-Zexion/Dymix  
-Riku/Sora  
-Pence/Ollette_

**_Setting: _**_AU! College-town somewhere: mostly at Seventh Heaven and Reno and Axel's apartment ^^_

**_POV:_**_ It's Axel's tale to tell, so he's hogging the lime-light! (First Person!)_

**_Summary:_**_ Art student Axel Sinclair is desperate for a job. ANY JOB.  
He's just beginning his freshman year at college, but to receive a large chunk of his aid money, he must also hold down a job. But in this economy, where is a 19-year old with no experience to find a decent paying job with hours that won't interfere with his class schedule?  
Enter one Reno Sinclair, Axel's older brother and a bartender at Seventh Heaven. Seventh Heaven, as it so happened, is in desperate need of a lounge singer. Reno believes Axel could easily get the gig –if he cross-dressed, which is really no hardship with a rich alto singing voice, slender feminine hips, and a penchant for heels.  
With a little scheming, Axel auditions and gets the gig. He manages to go six months before anyone on the waitstaff suspects anything hinky, let alone catches him (that was week one into month seven).  
Roxas sets his terms for keeping Axel's secret: Axel must do anything and everything Roxas orders –in a skimpy green dress, no less!_

**_Additional ANs:_**_ This will probably get very OOC on me, haha. Seifer will be more like himself (from Final Fantasy VIII), as will Squall. Some circumstances resemble my real-life issues my freshman year... Unfortunately, I didn't get a relationship out of the deal –or a job singing, damn it! Office work will be the death of me and Tseng :P_

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You know, when you're a kid, all you want is to quickly become an adult.

What you don't realize, of course, is that becoming an adult means assuming some responsibilities. I tell you, kids everywhere would stop daydreaming of adulthood if they only realized!

But, I digress.

I had just finished my senior year of high school not even an entire month ago. The June heat was stifling, but I had been basking in the gloriousness of freedom until that fateful day when the letter arrived.

"You've got mail, little brother," Reno announced as he opened the door of our shared apartment and tossed the other envelopes on the desk before throwing a single envelope at me like it was a throwing star. The projectile hit the middle of my forehead.

I growled and picked up the offending object. _Shaw University –Office of the Bursar,_ it read in a legible cursive script. I sighed and opened the envelope quickly, careful not to tear the letter in the process. There were two tables on the statement: one of charges and one of anticipated payments. By three items on the anticipated payments list, there were little asterisks that denoted _something_ or other.

So I glanced down at the footnotes.

And swore.

Loudly.

Vulgarly.

With enough ferocity that Reno was distracted from his ramen long enough to ask, "What's wrong, Axel?"

"Fuckers! I have to maintain 15 credit hours and a steady job, just to get all of the grants and the scholarships!" I growled loudly, wanting to light something on fire –like maybe the letter, or the people who made the stupid rule.

May it never be said that my elder brother wasn't perceptive. He obviously recognized that pyromaniac glint in my eyes. Reno grimaced and pulled out his pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his dress-shirt. He drew out two, placed them both between his lips, and lit them before offering me the one he'd lit first. "What are you going to do?"

I sighed and took a long pull off the cigarette. "I don't know. Know anyone that's hiring?"

He shook his head an exhaled a cloud of blue-gray smoke. "I'll keep my ears out for anything, though."

I nodded, believing him. Reno tended to come off as clueless and lazy to most people, but he was actually very alert and attentive, not to mention an avid runner. His promises were commitments to him, especially when he promised thing to me, since all we really had was each other.

* * *

I spent what remained of June and all of July looking for a job that would provide enough funds for me to buy my texts –the one thing the government _hadn't_ fuckin' factored in– and yet still have the hours to accommodate my class schedule. After more than five weeks of searching, I still had _nothing_ that could cover both bases. Either I couldn't make enough money or I couldn't get hours that worked around my class-load, although there was yet another stack of jobs filed under "Too Little Cash _and_ No Way to Schedule". That was my _favorite_ pile.

By the first week of August, I was ready to throw in the towel, but I diligently went through the motions: checking the want ads in the paper and at least twenty separate listings online.

I was sitting on the couch, feeling sorry for myself but still looking through the online listings when my brother came home from work at 3 am.

"I have the solution to all of your problems," Reno announced, stretching his lanky form before shutting the door.

I looked up at him and stared. "What?"

"I have the solution to all of your problems," he repeated slowly.

"I got that part. What's the solution?"

He cocked his hip and smirked at me. "How do you feel about doing a long shift in drag?"

"Depends on how good it pays," I returned evenly.

"Eight an hour, plus tips."

"Bring it on."

And so began my life as a cross-dressing lounge singer known as Lola Sinclair.

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**_Hope this is enough of a tease to get you all interested :P There's been a chunk of this story sitting on my computer for a long time, so I thought I'd let it see some light :P_**

**_So, have I lost you already? Is it just too weird? REVIEW and tell me how crazy I am, how un-cute/cute you think this storyline to be, ect. al._**


	2. Chapter 2

_I didn't want to leave that hanging as it was and make you all wait on the next update, so here's the second part! Please don't mind the insanity ^^_

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Okay, so maybe I exaggerated a little, but not much! That's the moment I've come to think of as the birth of Lola, but my life as a cross-dressing lounge singer actually didn't begin until the following evening.

As my brother explained to me, Yuffie Kisaragi –Seventh Heaven's former lounge singer– had just quit after last night/this morning with no notice, so Tifa Lockhart, the owner, found herself in a bit of a pinch.

"Just what am I going to be forced to sing?" I demanded.

"Well, since Tifa just swore that she never wants to hear another Disney song this _millennium_, I reckon it's fair to assume you'll have a choice." Reno smirked. "Trust you to be picky about _that_ but not about doing it all in drag."

I lifted one foot off the floor to expose the cute black pumps I had yet to slip out of. "Did you _really_ think I'd be bothered by being on stage in drag? I'm certain I can make a rather convincing female, so long as I'm not forced to sing soprano."

Reno chuckled. "You are so gay, little brother.

"Oh and you're not." I stuck my tongue out at him childishly.

"Well, at least I don't wear heels and dresses."

"Well, at least I'm going to make more money than you," I shot back with a grin.

He thought about it. "Probably, but only if you can manage to have boobs."

"Great! I can stuff one of my corsets," I returned brightly.

He snorted. "So gay."

"Don't start that again," I cautioned. Rising to my feel. "So how do we do this?"

Reno grinned like a madman. "Pick a stage name, little brother."

I didn't even have to think about it. "Lola," I replied. The name came from one of my favorite show-tunes.

"Great. Let's go see Reeve and he'll hook us up. And then I need to see Tseng, alone, and see if I can't talk him into this."

Reeve was one of my brother's friends who absolutely _thrived_ on questionable legalities. Tseng was my brother's boyfriend _and_ the book-keeper and manager at Seventh Heaven. "Well, I suppose that means Tseng will have to know?"

Reno glared at me. "Don't you trust him?"

I smirked. "Dude, the man practically _personifies_ secrecy. Of _course_ I trust him. But can we tell Tifa?"

He thought about it. "Well, we're gonna have to. She checks the books. I figure she'll get a kick out of pulling one over on everyone. Maybe Shinra owes her a favor. Could be a better way to do the books, honestly."

I smiled at my criminal mastermind of a brother. "Great. Now, invite Tifa and Tseng over here so we can all talk. Then Tifa and I can leave and you can con Tseng into this."

* * *

Tifa thought the whole thing would be a hilarious prank –plus, she really needed a lounge singer. Tseng had needed some... convincing that had left me stranded in a public park for three and a half hours, but he was on-board, too. As it turned out, Rufus Shinra of ShinRa Industries owed _Reno_ a favor –apparently, no one had ever warned Rufus to never gamble with my brother– so he created and filled a faux work-study position.

That left playing the part, which I knew would be no trouble. But before we could agree to actually do this, I had to convince two of my brother's closest friends.

So I sat down in front of a mirror in my bedroom. My brother had come in to help me lace up my corset a few minutes ago. I put on a garter belt and slipped into my lucky fishnet stockings. Next, I turned my attention to my hair. It was pretty long, actually: it just usually did what it damned well pleased and stuck up in spiky tufts. So I separated out a few tendrils that framed my face, finger combed styling mouse in into my hair, and curled the strands until I had perfect spiral curls. I coaxed the rest of my hair into laying straight down my back –with a heavy-duty flat-iron set on its highest setting, of course. Then I drew the straightened lengths into a ponytail at the base of my neck.

Next up was the make-up. I had really been quite fortunate, I supposed. I'd had an older sister that had enjoyed turning me into a make-up mannequin, but she also taught me how to select and apply make-up that suited me. So I put on the concealer that matched my skin tone, brushed blush onto my cheekbones, and then highlighted with a shimmering bronzer. I outlined my eyes with black eyeliner, applying a thicker line to my eyelids. I brushed a bronze-toned eye-shadow lightly over my eyelids and carefully painted my lashes with black mascara. To finish it off, I smoothed a crimson lipstick over my lips.

Then I stepped into a shimmering black cocktail dress and slipped my arms through the sleeves before zipping it up the side. My crimson pumps were half under the bed, so I had to pull them out before I could toe into the curve-toed heels.

Then I opened the door and smoothly maneuvered my way into the hallway. I took a deep breath and tried to remember how my sister had taught me to walk in heels and how her voice had sounded. Carefully, I walked into the living room and stood before Tifa, Reno, and Tseng.

"Holy _shit_, little brother."

"You... you actually make a lovely woman," Tifa gasped out.

Tseng looked me over twice and then gave me a half-smile. "I think you actually look nicer this way."

I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at my brother's boyfriend. "Such a wonderful compliment from such a handsome man," I purred out, pitching my voice a bit higher than normal and hoping it wouldn't be that hard to maintain. "I'm Lola, Lola Sinclair, Reno's younger sister. It's so nice to meet you."

"That's creepy!" Tifa giggled. "If I didn't know you, Ax, I'd never guess you were male.

I gave her a sultry smile. "That's the plan, sugar," I told her, Lola's sugary tone coming easier than I'd dreamed.

* * *

_**Yep, I'm leaving it here for now :P **_

_**I hope to have more up soon, but I do have numerous other projects and the tendency to fight with technology. **_

_**Keep your eyes peeled ^^**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Since it appears that I cannot properly stay away from this story this week, I'm back again with the third part.**

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_In which Axel -I mean Lola- sings, meets part of the staff, and figures out that Tifa doesn't hire many straight men._

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Before the bar opened that night, Tifa called an unofficial staff meeting. Since it was unofficial, only those who would be working tonight had to show up, which let my brother off the hook –a good thing, since I wasn't sure that he could keep himself from laughing when Tifa introduced me as Lola.

It was ten minutes until our appointed meeting time when Tifa led me into Seventh Heaven. It was my first time entering the bar –I was underage, although I didn't look it– and as such, I allowed my eyes to wander around the bar-room and learn the territory. Along the east wall, the dark wood of the counter and the shelf behind it gleamed in the low light. Light refracted off amber and clear bottles and the metal fixtures. Toward the southern end, there were two doors side by side. The closer of the two doors read "Manager" –_Tseng's office,_ I translated– and the other had no label, but I knew it was Tifa's office.

Another door butted up to the southeast corner, and I figured it lead to the storeroom. Toward the southwest corner, there were two doors labeled clearly "Men" and "Women". Absently, I pondered which room I should use in respect to the way I was dressed. _Women's room,_ I decided fairly quickly. _I do _not_ want to be the reason _anyone_ yells out 'There's a chick in the men's room!'_

My eyes slowly traced the west wall. A portion of the west wall was met by a platform in the same dark color of wood as the gleaming bar, and atop the platform sat a dark baby grand piano. The wooden flooring was lighter than the other wooden elements, and it bore the heavy scarring of sliding barstools, chairs and tables, not to mention the occasional bar-brawl. Tables were scattered in a seemingly random pattern, but they all seemed to face the platform, better known as the stage. The only things that didn't actively face the stage were the stools at the bar, and I had a feeling they would be turned around to watch, as well.

A smile crossed my lips. I liked this bar already, and I was pretty sure the atmosphere would only improve when the bar was filled with people, noise, and smoke.

"Oh, I like that smile, _Lola,_" Tifa informed me, grinning.

I just laughed, about to respond when the door opened and the bell chimed.

"Hey, Pence. You wanna try out the pipes of our potential new lounge singer?" Tifa asked the man who entered the bar.

Pence had to be the accompanist, then. I turned and looked at him. He was a little on the short side, but cute in a boyish way. He still had a baby face, and it practically lit up when he smiled. His dark hair was a little long; it fell into his dark eyes frequently, I could already tell. Slender he was not, but he wasn't overly large. He was plump, I decided, with just enough meat on his bones to make him interesting.

I gave him a bone-melting smile. "I'm Lola Sinclair, Reno's younger sister," I told him, careful to use Lola's voice.

Pence raised an eyebrow. "And you can carry a tune in a bucket?"

"Touché," I replied, laughing. "Apparently all of the musical talent passed him by." I smiled at him again. "Since Miss Tifa wants to see what I can do, what's in your repertoire?"

"I can play hymns and Disney." His voice was wry. "Disney was all that Yuffie would sing."

I wrinkled my nose. "Do you read music, then? My repertoire runs more to show tunes."

He shook his head. "I'm strictly by ear. If you can send me some recordings, I should be able to learn some new stuff for you, though. But only if you pass the test. Pick a piece."

I paused for a moment to think. What Disney song _wouldn't_ be an affront to nature? I'd already ruled out the church music because I was a gay man in drag. God would undoubtedly strike me dead if I dared to sing a hymn, and rightfully so. "Hm. Do you know 'Reflection'? From _Mulan_?"

He nodded.

"Okay, so how does this work?" I asked him slowly. "I've never worked with a by-ear pianist, and I certainly don't have the same range as Yuffie."

Instead of answering me immediately, he started for that beautiful baby grand piano.

I followed, praying I didn't teeter in the heels. I _was_ used to wearing them, but that didn't make me the world's most graceful man-in-drag.

As I ascended the steps, his eyes rested on me for a moment before falling to the ivory keys. "Just start singing and I'll follow you and find the right key," he directed.

I nodded stiffly and took a deep breath. Pinpointing the note I wanted to start on was the difficult part: there were, after all, so many notes and keys to choose from. Closing my eyes, I exhaled slowly and reached for my starting note.

"_Look at me,_" I began softly, "_I will never pass for a perfect bride or a perfect daughter."_

The piano joined in hesitantly, his playing a little clumsy as he tried to find me. For some reason, I felt a little more confident, but I refused to open my eyes. "_Can it be,_" I sang, my volume increasing a little, "_I'm not meant to play this part?"_

The piano came out more strongly as he found the right key. My confidence rose further, and I allowed my volume to rise just a little more. "_Now I see that if I were truly to be myself, I would break my fam'ly's heart_."

I heard the key change and I relied on my voice and my instincts to make that jump, but lowered my volume because I wanted to play with the dynamics some. "_Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me? Why is my reflection someone I don't know?"_ Stepping up the volume a bit, I sang the next part. "_Somehow, I cannot hide who I am, though I've tried. When will my reflection show who I am inside?"_

I forced myself to back down a little on the volume. "_When will my reflection show who I am inside?"_ I finished slowly, softly.

Pence played only a few more measures before the song ended.

Applause sounded from multiple sources in the bar. My eyes flew open and I tried to push away the heat rising in my cheeks. Sometime during the song, five people had trickled into the bar. More precisely, five _men_: three blonds and two brunettes.

When I sang, I had a tendency to drift off into my own little world, so it really didn't surprise me that I hadn't heard the bell chime. I just hated how much it startled me to see five people in the room who weren't in there before I'd started.

"She the new singer?" one of the men, a blond, asked Tifa.

Tifa smiled. "Depends on what Pence says."

"You're a powerful alto. I think I could enjoy learning new pieces just to hear what you do," Pence told me.

I wanted to blush all over again. "Thank you. "

"Boys, this lovely lady is Lola Sinclair. She's Reno's younger sister," Tifa told them.

One of the dark haired men lifted a brow. "Really? I figured she was much to pretty too be related to Reno."

I laughed.

Tifa sighed. "Zack, must you flirt with everything that has legs."

One of the blonds –not the one who'd spoken up earlier –set his hand on one of Zack's shoulders. "T, you know he can't help it. It's his nature."

I smiled, but tried to interrupt before the conversation got to serious. "May I ask your names, since you know mine?" I interjected smoothly.

The blond that was touching Zack spoke up first. "I'm Cloud Strife. I'm one of the waiters. And this ADHD _puppy_ is Zackary Fair, also one of the waiters and unfortunately my significant other." Cloud had spiky blond hair that looked untamable: it stuck up in tuffs, much like mine usually did. He had intense blue eyes the color of neon, as did Zack. Zack had spiky black hair that stuck up _identically_ to the way mine usually did. Zack was taller than his boyfriend and about my height.

At Cloud's pronouncement about their relationship beign unfortunate, Zack began to pout.

The other brunette nodded at me. "Squall Leonhart. Also on wait-staff."

Squall was intriguing. His hair was dark-brown and his eyes were pale blue. Although his appearance was rather normal, he had a magnetic intensity to him that would have set him apart no matter what. There was a scar that crossed diagonally across from his forehead to the bridge of his nose that might put some people off, but I found it added to his mystique.

The blond that hadn't spoken at all yet gave me a mock salute. "Seifer Almasy. I'm a bartender."

Seifer's hair was shorter than Cloud's. it stuck up, but more in an artful array of spikes instead of in tufts. His eyes were blue, as well, but nowhere near as intense as Cloud's and Zack's were. Seifer also bore an almost identical scar to Squall: it was more like the mirror image of it, since the diagonal scar began on the opposite side of his face. But Seifer didn't seem near as intense as Squall for some reason.

The last of the group was another blond. "I'm Demyx Dincht. I'm a bartender, like Seifer, but unlike him, I actually like people."

There was something about Demyx that made me think that he and I –Axel, as opposed to Lola– would be fast friends. I wasn't sure if it was that fun-loving grin he was sporting or the blond Mohawk. His eyes were blue, as well, but like the sky or a tidal pool. He looked… well, he looked like he'd be a lot of fun to hang out with sometime.

"It's so very nice to meet you all," I replied with a big smile, still careful to keep Lola's voice in place.

"Alright, everybody. Let's get ready for tonight," Tifa instructed. She gave me a bit of a sideways smile. "Lola, honey, why don't you and Pence find about… oh, three songs you can do tonight? I know I said I didn't want to hear any more Disney, but it's what we've got."

I tried hard not to wince about being called 'honey' and watched all of the other men scurry around to get ready to open. I turned to Pence to ask the question that had been nagging me clear through the introduction. "Pence, does Tifa employ _any_ straight guys, aside from you?"

He raised a brow at me once more. "What makes you say they're all gay?"

"Psh. Live with a gay man as long as I have and you can practically _smell_ it," I told him. "Besides, she employs my brother, and her manager is my brother's boyfriend."

"Well, in answer to your inquiry… I'll have to think about that." He was quite for a second or two. "I think the only other one is Rude, the bouncer."

"Well _that's_ frightening," I informed him. "What do they do when straight girls hit on them?"

"Milk it for all it's worth," Pence said with a snort.

I laughed as well. Some of them probably did better than others, but I could totally see my brother milking it for all it was worth.

* * *

**Pardon my departure from the usual interpretation of Pence, haha. I just thought that he should be a bit of a smart alec :P And Axel/Lola was totally in need of a bit of a foil, so Pence rose to the occasion ^^**

**I hope you like this part. I giggled...and tried for accuracy. I even had to look up bits of information!**

**Also! For those of you who may/may not have noticed, in this story, Demyx's last name is Dincht. In case you find yourself unsure of the origins, Dinct is the last name of Zell in Final Fantasy VIII. I chose that last name because the personalities and appearances of Zell and Demyx are similar ^^ If Zell takes the time to make an appearance here, he will be Demyx's older brother ^^**

**Another thing! Singing with an accompanist who plays by ear, as is done in this piece, is a bit challenging (I've done it frequently). I tried to describe it as best I could... Also, the vocal range Axel/Lola has is my own, although I imagine my voice is a little less powerful. As an alto, I frequently got stuck with guy parts in my high school choir, but alto is a higher range for a man and it is more realistic than having him sing soprano...**

**Oh, let me see... what else, what else... Oh! One of Axel/Lola's thoughts isn't ****_quite_**** original to me. It comes from a song by Phil Vasser called "Bobbi with an I"...**

**Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this part as much as I enjoyed writing it up... Then again, it was like 2am, so everything was hysterical :P**

**Let me know what you like, what you hate, what you find unlikely, what you can't believe... ect. al.**


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